Glory defeat Jets to seal Premiers Plate

Perth Glory wrote their names on the Premiers Plate on Sunday evening after a tense 1-0 victory over Newcastle Jets at HBF Park.

Newcastle sprung out of the blocks and dominated the early stages of the game, firing an early warning shot at the hosts when Roy O’Donovan volleyed from just inside the attacking half, his shot looping over Liam Reddy to rattle the crossbar.

And only minutes later O’Donovan had the ball in the net, only for referee Kurt Ams to rule out the goal through a VAR check, which found O’Donovan offside when receiving the Ivan Vujica cross in the six-yard box.

Saved once by VAR the review system then came to cost Glory as their call for a penalty for a challenge on Joel Chianese in the box was reviewed and waved away.

It was an end-to-end opening half with both sides breaking through the opposing defence with ease, but Glory had the best of the chances which Andy Keogh and Chianese continued to spurn for the home side.

Keogh came closest when his shot from a Chianese cross hit the bar, then both players swapped roles as a Keogh ball found Chianese in behind Newcastle’s defence, but the Glory attacker could only poke his attempt into the leg of Glen Moss.

From the start of the second half Glory asserted an attacking dominance but Newcastle were resolute in maintaining their clean sheet, cutting out a number of Glory chances crafted mainly by Diego Castro.

After a sustained spell of pressure Glory had two goals ruled out for offside in the space of minutes, through two close-range headers from Chianese and Castro.

But just when it seemed anything Glory tried would never break Newcastle down Ivan Franjic arrived at the back post to put a sublime Castro through ball into the net, and the home fans erupted out of their seats.

The ball from Castro bypassed Newcastle’s defence and found Franjic alone at the back post, who slotted the ball through the legs of Moss and wheeled away in relief-filled celebration.

After scoring the go-ahead goal Glory upped their defensive efforts to take the sting out of the game, and barring a handful of half-chances to Newcastle in the final moments of the game Glory stood strong to seal the win with a clean sheet.

It wasn’t pretty, but it was all that Perth needed to take out the Premiers Plate, putting an exclamation point on a season in which they have been front-runners from the beginning and throughout.